By any measure, these are tough times. Adding to the angst is increasing uncertainty about how students and their families will respond to a struggling economy. Institutions are scrambling to adjust, and many are uncertain about what moves they need to make to positively impact ’09 enrollments and beyond.

During this rapid-fire session, we will explore a series of marketing and recruiting strategies that will help your institution maintain traction in today’s ever-changing marketplace.

A new administration and Congress, economic uncertainty, changing student demographics, growing public disenchantment — all of these forces and more will touch your office as you try to reach and engage your constituencies. King will discuss the trends in public policy and public perception defining your role and shaping your challenges throughout a turbulent year.

Considered to be a pioneer in the strategic use of interactive media in communications, Sean Carton will discuss trends in social media strategy and how it impacts recruitment and reputation management. It's a new world for higher education communicators and Carton will provide both high-level context and on-the-ground examples of how social media can make your program even more effective and relevant.

Ever since social media emerged as a significant part of the communications and marketing mix, organizations -- including higher education institutions -- have been trying to assess their position and reputation within blogs, social networks and other channels of social media. As organizations have tried to figure out how to proceed in social media, increasingly they’ve conducted primary research to find out what others in their market place were doing, what were the norms and what were the best practices. In 2007 Georgia Institute of Technology conducted a benchmarking study of social media positioning and reputation of the institution on which to systematically incorporate social media in the university's communications programs and planning. This presentation will present an overview of the primary research findings and a review of how Georgia Tech plans to use social media research results and best practices to create and improve their own communications programs.

The Delta Cost Project got major national media coverage in January with data showing that, for the most part, tuition increases can’t be traced to greater spending in the instructional function. As administrators and communicators, just how guilty are we of not dealing creatively with cost and openly in explaining our finances?